bodies of the boys, under the pretence of believing, that they had
been kidnapped in Africa. These two cases he considered, would
perhaps satisfy Mr. T's appetite for facts in the meantime; he would
have plenty more of them when they came to the main question of
debate. One other instance, and he would have done. There was a law in
the United States, that if a slave run away from one of the
slaveholding states, to any of the non-slaveholding states, the
authorities of the latter were bound to give him up to his master. A
runaway slave had been confined in New York prison, previous to being
sent home, an attempt was made to stir up a mob, for the purpose of
liberating him. A bill instigating the people to take the laws into
their own hands, was traced to an abolitionist--the same Elizur
Wright, Jr. He brought to the office of one of the principal city
papers, a denial of the charge--in a note signed by him in his
official capacity. He was told that was insufficient, as it was in his
individual, not in his official capacity, that he was supposed to have
done the act in question. He replied, it would be time to make the
denial in that form, when the charge was so specifically made;
meantime he considered the actual denial sufficient. Then, sir, said
one present, I charge you with writing the placard--for I saw it in
your hand writing. These instances were sufficient to prove the charge
of violence which he had made was not unfounded. In reference to the
statement made by Mr. Thompson regarding the number of slaves in the
United States, at the commencement of the Revolution, Mr. B. said, it
was impossible to know precisely what number there was at that time,
as there had been no statistical returns before 1790, at which time
there were six hundred and sixty-five thousand slaves in the five
original slave states. The exertions of the American nation to put an
end to slavery were treated with ridicule, but he would have them to
bear in mind, that there were in the United States four hundred
thousand free people of color, all of whom, or their progenitors, had
been set free by the people of America, and not one of these, so far
as he knew, had been liberated by an abolitionist. In addition to
these, there were not less than four thousand more in Africa, many of
whom had been freed from fetters and sent to that country. He would
ask if all this was to be counted as nothing. If they were to consider
for a moment the enormous sum which it would take to ransom so many
slaves, they would perceive the value of the sacrifice. They might say
that they had given $150,000,000 towards the abolition of slavery. It
might seem selfish to talk of it thus; but if the conduct of Great
Britain, rich and powerful as she was, was not reckoned worthy of
praise for having done an act of justice, in granting emancipation to
the West India slaves, at the cost of $100,000,000, or £20,000,000,
how much more might be said of £30,000,000, being paid by a few
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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